Ants, Spiders and Fleas... Oh My!

I feel that in comparison to cats, dogs are able to be rid of fleas twice as easy. Dogs now have this pill called Comfortis that does wonders while cats are still treated with Advantage and Frontline. All in which, doesn't really do much justice.

I live in a house with five cats. One of them is mine while the other four are the roommates. Unfortunately, ALL of them have fleas and I can't seem to kill the pests out of this house. The worst part is that with fleas come ants and with ants come spiders. It's a never-ending pest fest within this house and it's because one cat got out for half a day.

My question is this: How do you get rid of fleas quickly without paying too much? Unfortunately I am unable to pay for a pest control and taking the cats to the groomers (which I would feel terrible for!) is too costly. $30 per cat is way too much -- even if I'm only paying $30 and the roommate is paying $120.

I've tried natural remedies such as Baking Soda all over the carpet. It's died them down a little, but they still appear out of nowhere. Any natural remedies that you can suggestion that you've done and it's worked?